Determinants of Use of Social Media Platforms among Extension Professionals in Southwest, Nigeria

Abstract

Opportunities to share and providing access to agricultural information at a much faster pace to a wider audience through a variety of user-friendly platforms can be achieved through the use of social media. This study investigated use of social media platforms among extension professionals in Southwest, Nigeria. Two hundred and five respondents were selected through multistage sampling and used for the study. The findings revealed that majority of respondents were between 36 and 50 years, 52.2% were male, 39.5% had B.Sc, 22.9% had HND, 15.1% had PGD, 12.2% had Ph.D and 10.2% had M,Sc/M.Phil, Over half (58%) of respondents had moderate awareness on use of WhatsApp for extension service delivery. Results of regression analysis showed positive and significant influence of performance expectancy (β=.199, p<.05), effort expectancy (β=.170, p<.05) and social influence (β=.139, p<.05) on use of social media platforms. From the result of the study, it was found that performance expectancy, effort expectancy and social influence were predictors of social media use, and recommended that in the use of social media for extension service delivery, these factors should be given attention in the study area.